Getting Honest Feedback

I don’t have a lot of beta readers. But one of my most constant ones is my brother, and I often feel that he isn’t being honest. Why wouldn't he be? I don’t know. Maybe to spare my feelings. Or maybe I’m just imagining it because I think little of my own work.

How do you know when feedback is honest? Some people (that you know VERY well) might have recognisable behaviour when they lie or sugarcoat. But mostly, the burden of that lies on you. We live in a world where most people are taught to be polite. They naturally lean towards making you feel better instead of giving you the information you need.

So how do you get honest feedback? Here are a few suggestions.

Tell them that you want honest feedback. Normally, this won’t help much, but make sure they know you want them to criticise.

When you do get honest feedback, don’t blow up at them. This will condition them to avoid doing the same thing later on. You need to learn how to handle getting negative feedback.

Ask questions that force honesty. The key here is to word it perfectly. If you ask ‘What part didn’t you like?’, they can say, ‘Nothing.’ Instead, ask them ‘What part/character (or whatever else you need feedback on) did you like the least?’ Even with this, you might still get a ‘everything was great’ response. Try to coax it out of them.

Change the medium. Some people will be more honest when they write feedback than when they have to tell you to your face. This will most probably be different for every person, so try to find the right method.

As a general rule, don’t let bad feedback become personal, rather use it to better your manuscript. Some people will keep going on in their polite ways. To break these guys, you have to get them to criticise a small thing at first (not so impolite) and then show them that you appreciate it. That way, you condition them to give you honesty rather than politeness.

And be sure to THANK your beta readers who took the time to read your story.

Do you have other ways to ensure honesty from your beta readers?

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Crafting a Story : Protagonist

The protagonist’s random word is:

Since sole can refer to a number of things, I picked one that worked better.

Sole : The underside of footwear.

Since we’re dealing with a person, I think the word sole should be used as a job description. Let’s say our protagonist works in or owns a shoe repair shop. Let’s also assume that he does the repairing work himself.

Our protagonist seems to me, based off his job, to be a patient person. Maybe methodical and a perfectionist. (Maybe not, but this is the creating part) He believes in saving money (since it is better, financially, to repair shoes than buy new ones), so he is probably frugal. If this is so, let’s also assume that he is someone who saves in other avenues of life. So we can say that he grows his own fruit and vegetables. Maybe he doesn’t like eating plants grown by other people – like the vegetables in the supermarket.

With all that, he is probably a difficult person. He can either react to other people by avoidance or confrontation. Let’s say he’s the confrontation type (since it spells more conflict). Thus, he likes to point out things that are done incorrectly and he likes insulting other people’s food. Think, telling the host of a dinner that his carrots are preservative-loaded trash.

Considering that, he is probably not very social and does not have many friends. Say he has bad eyesight and wears thick glasses (which could have led to social isolation that in turn could have led to a change in behaviour to a more difficult person).

What does this person want in life? Maybe he has no idea. He’s just going along, making a living (barely, not many people repair their shoes), trying to find a calling, or maybe he even thinks that fixing shoes is his calling.

After taking all the information into consideration, for now I think I’ll call our protagonist Henry. Henry James. Maybe it’ll change later, maybe not. We’ll see.

That’s all for the protagonist part. Next week we look at the antagonist.

(Feel free to add anything in the comments.)

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Bear vs Bare

I recently read a article where the writer used the word ‘bare’ where there should have been ‘bear’ (as in verb, not noun). This is actually more common than I originally thought, so here is the correct usages.

Bear - 1. to support the weight of

           2. to be indulgent, patient, or forbearing with (someone)

There are a lot of other possibilities, but these are the ones I think cause the most trouble.

Bare - : to make or lay (something) bare : UNCOVER

So when someone types ‘bare with me’, it is probably not what he/she meant. Bear with me. The soldiers bear arms. Not ‘bare’.

In general, if you want to use ‘bear’ or ‘bare’, it will probably be the former, unless it has something to do with uncovering.

For example, ‘Peter bears a secret’ means that he has the burden of a secret, while ‘Peter bares a secret’ means that he is telling the secret.

Breakdown:

Bear – Most often used; To support or be patient with, among other things. Easiest way is to use when ‘bare’ is not applicable. (e.g. “This will be a long speech, but please bear with me.”)

Bare – Uncover, to lay bare. (e.g. “John bared his chest to show his scar”)

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